Harvard Women’s Basketball Wins First Ivy Championship, Clinches March Madness Berth

Updated March 15, 2025 at 10:18 p.m.

PROVIDENCE — Harmoni Turner and the Harvard women’s basketball team are ready to dance.

Harvard won the Ivy League Tournament for the first time in program history, as the Crimson relied on a full team effort to defeat the Columbia Lions 74-71 on Saturday and secure its first berth in the NCAA basketball tournament since 2007.

The Lions missed a potential game-tying three-pointer at the buzzer while the Crimson faithful at the Pizzitola Sports Center erupted in cheers as Harvard held on to win the championship.

The final seconds of the game turned into a heart-stopping back-and-forth as both teams failed to convert crucial shots. But the Crimson ultimately came out on top as head coach Carrie Moore’s squad did just enough to end a historic regular season on an exclamation note.

The Lions’ hopes of playing in March Madness for the second year in a row are not over as Columbia — which lost in the Ivy championship last year as well — is likely to enter the tournament once more through an at-large bid, which are awarded to teams that do not win their conference championships.

The Crimson, however, guaranteed themselves an appearance in the round of 64 with the win over the Lions. Now, the only question is where the selection committee will decide to seed Harvard.

“I definitely think we’re a 10-seed, if not anything lower than that, for sure,” Moore said in a postgame press conference. “And at times we were in the eight, nine game. Not too sure I want that game because the eights and nines just play the 1-seed.”

“Honestly, I really don’t care,” she added. “I’m just happy to be in the tournament.”

Saturday’s matchup marked Harvard’s second appearance in the final game of the Ivy League tournament, also known as “Ivy Madness.” The Crimson lost to Princeton University in the 2023 championship game, which ended Moore’s first season at the helm of the program.

Harvard has competed in every iteration of Ivy Madness since it started in 2017, which features the top four teams from regular season Ivy play. Despite having the best overall record in the Ivy League, the Crimson entered this year’s tournament as the No. 3 seed after getting swept in its regular season series against the Princeton Tigers and splitting its two games against the Lions.

Harvard earned its spot in the 2025 Ivy title game after Turner powered the Crimson to a 70-67 nail-biter win over the Tigers in the semifinal game Friday night. Turner delivered a historic performance as she almost single-handedly kept Harvard’s tournament hopes alive by scoring 44-points against Princeton.

Turner’s performance paid off as players and coaches celebrated on the court, jumping and embracing over the streamers that rained down on the arena. The on-court celebration continued as members of the team took turns cutting down the net and posing for photos with the tournament trophy.

The Ivy Madness victory also marked a moment of triumph for Moore, who led the Crimson to strong performances in her first two seasons at the helm of the program but failed to find success in March.

“We’ve just been knocking on the door every year that I’ve been here and it’s just such an incredible feeling to finally, finally get to the top of the hill and be champions,” Moore said in a postgame press conference.

Moore took over the Crimson in 2022 upon the retirement of legendary head coach Kathy Delaney-Smith, who led the team to multiple NCAA tournament appearances over 40 years at the helm of the program. Moore acknowledged the pressure to win immediately, saying that Saturday’s win felt like a culmination of her efforts after the team lost in the championship game two years ago.

“Today means everything,” Moore said. “It just feels really incredible to finally get over that hump and release the weight on your shoulders a little bit.”

Turner, who was a rising sophomore when Moore arrived at Harvard, said that winning a championship felt inevitable under her coach’s leadership.

“I knew we was gonna get a championship the first day she came in and worked us out. We did not touch a ball,” Turner said. “It was all defense.”

“Proof is there, we are the No. 1 defensive team in the country,” she added. “Defense and rebounding wins championships.”

Harvard’s championship victory also featured key contributions from a number of starters and bench players, a departure from the semifinal game in which the Crimson almost entirely relied on Turner’s offense to win.

Still, Turner racked up 24 points against Ivy League defensive player of the year Kitty Henderson. Fellow senior Elena Rodriguez picked up 13 points and sophomore Karlee White posted a career-high 12. Moore also got 31 points from her bench, compared to only 6 points from Columbia’s substitutes.

The team effort made up for a weaker defensive showing for the usually-strong Crimson squad as the team was plagued by fouls and offensive rebounds, letting up 15 points from free throws alone.

Harvard got off to a sloppy start, committing three turnovers in the first four minutes of gameplay, allowing the Lions to race off to a 13-6 lead.

The Crimson found its stride after Moore called a timeout and went on a 13-5 run to end the quarter. The Crimson attacked the paint relentlessly for layups and floaters, cutting the deficit to two points as Rodriguez tallied three assists.

In the final seconds of the quarter, Rodriguez knocked down an open corner three-pointer to take a 19-18 lead into the break.

After Harvard made just one three-pointer in the first period, both teams sank five shots each from behind the arc in the second quarter. And crucially for the Crimson, Turner found her stride offensively, ending the half with 14 points and two assists.

The teams traded the lead through the first four minutes of the second quarter, until the Crimson finally broke through via Turner’s playmaking as she went on an 8-0 run, giving Harvard a 34-26 lead.

After Turner fouled Columbia sophomore guard Riley Weiss from behind the arc with just over three minutes left in the half, the rare mistake from Turner allowed the Lions to sink three free throws and narrow the deficit to 34-32. A last-second three from Weiss kept the margin at two, with the Crimson heading into the second half with a slim lead.

The Crimson opened the third quarter on a 7-2 run with Turner quickly scoring five points including a step back three-pointer to eclipse the 2,000 career points scoring mark — becoming only the fifth player in Ivy League history to do so.

Both teams upped the defensive intensity, but the Crimson fouled Columbia three separate times, allowing the Lions to score five of its fifteen points in the quarter from the charity stripe.

Despite widening the gap to eight points midway through the third quarter, the Lions clawed back and tied the game up at 57-57 with one minute left.

Rodriguez delivered a neat overhead pass to a cutting Rocco for her ninth assist of the night, regaining Harvard the lead 59-57 heading into the fourth quarter.

The Lions immediately equalized to start the fourth quarter, but Harvard’s offensive ball movement generated free layups as the team led 65-61 after four minutes of gameplay.

After a foul on White, Columbia’s Cecelia Collins knocked down two free throws to equalize the game 65-65 with 3:19 left in the game.

That was quickly followed by a foul on Henderson, giving Harvard its first trip to the free-throw line of the game and converting for a 67-65 lead seconds later.

With the Crimson up by four points and just 28.6 seconds left to play, Saniyah Glenn-Bello fouled Weiss from the three point line, leading to three successful free throws for the Lions and forcing Moore to call the timeout.

Turner was fouled by the Lions forward Susie Rafu just one second after play resumed and made both free throws to extend Harvard’s lead to three points. After a missed Columbia jumper with 17 seconds left, the Lions fouled Abigail Wright again — who made both free throws to extend the Crimson’s lead to five.

After Turner fouled Weiss with just 11 seconds left, the Columbia sophomore missed one of her two free throws, allowing the Crimson to maintain a two-possession lead over the Lions.

Turner was herself fouled just a second later, and missed her first free throw before making her second to extend the Crimson’s lead to five. Henderson scored seconds later, before Rodriguez missed a wide-open layup with just five seconds on the clock that kept the Lions’ hopes alive.

But a missed three from Columbia sealed the deal for Harvard as the team will now prepare for its appearance in March Madness next week.

Harvard College Dean Rakesh Khurana — who was joined at the game by Athletics Director Erin McDermott and former University President Claudine Gay — said in a courtside interview that he was “just so proud of our entire team, the coaches, the athletic team.”

“They’ve worked so hard, and they’ve deserved this. This was Crimson at its best,” he added. “So excited for the Big Dance.”

—Staff writer Rahem D. Hamid can be reached at rahem.hamid@thecrimson.com.

—Staff writer Miles J. Herszenhorn can be reached at miles.herszenhorn@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @mherszenhorn or on Threads @mileshersz.

—Staff writer Oscar E. Mercado can be reached at oscar.mercado@thecrimson.com.